* 57 * 1/12/13

"We better go in first without you, Bishop," Lily suggested as the group of three neared Crossroad Keep after several hours. "I don't want to make it a habit to show up alone with you and get on Casavir's nerves." She giggled, remembering the last time with a bit more humor now that Bishop's wound was getting better.

"Yeah, whatever," replied Bishop, though he agreed that that would probably be a good idea. Besides, he wasn't in the mood to see the Angel of Goodness anyway. He glared harshly at Elanee to ascertain whether she was back to herself before leaving, presumably to return to his room in the inn.

The elves opened the door to the castle and peeked inside. The only person in sight was Uncus the merchant. Perhaps the others were eating in the dining hall. Or perhaps the group was worried sick and out looking for them in the dead of night. Lily hoped it wasn't the latter.

"Let's go to the library," Lily whispered. "We might be able to act like we were hiding out in there all evening. First, though, I'm going to put something on over these slacks." Lily gestured to where her torn slacks were through the robes and Elanee nodded. She tiptoed to her room, discarded the robe, and quickly put on a light green skirt over her tattered slacks before both she and Elanee crept to the east wing of the castle and eased the library door open. Luckily, Aldanon wasn't in his usual spot. Or maybe that was a bad thing. Lily didn't want to think any more about where everyone could possibly be.

The two girls huddled in a corner and pulled out semi-interesting books from the high-stacked shelves.

"Now we just wait until we hear something before coming out."

They read for about half an hour before Elanee looked up from her book.

"Lily," she whispered.

"Yes?"

"I am so sorry about what happened today."

"Don't be; you didn't know what you were doing. Plus it was...an interesting experience, to say the least," Lily finished with a quiet, uncertain laugh. She did have to admit it had been...different. She felt her cheeks heat up again, though, and quickly abandoned the thought lest her whole face be consumed.

Elanee seemed slightly relieved, but was obviously still bothered that she had been taken over like that. She felt vulnerable, but it was probably nothing compared to how vulnerable Lily had felt.

Just then, the girls heard a commotion start outside. A flurry of voices, including that of Commander Kana. Lily hadn't paid attention to her for awhile, she recalled with a chuckle.

"Oh!" she said aloud, then covered her mouth. She had forgotten that tonight was when she was supposed to decide on who became the head of recruitment, who became in charge of patrolling the roads, and other posts. She jumped to her feet and made her way to the main hall, Elanee following her despite not understanding what was going on.

Once Lily cleared the main wall of the east wing, she was bombarded with stimuli. A new voice here, friends there, a Bishop there...

Bishop? Lily spotted him and wondered. I guess he heard about the commotion from the innkeeper and came over.

One person – well, half a person – finally saw Lily.

"Lily!" Grobnar shouted gleefully. At the sound of their Leader's name, almost everyone turned to look at her. Elanee had already faded undetectably into the masses, so Lily now stood alone. She almost felt like she should bow, what with all the attention.

"Where were ya, Lily?" asked Neeshka spiritedly.

"I completely forgot about tonight, I'm sorry!" Lily responded, aiming her words at Kana. "I got caught up reading." Bishop smirked humorously at this.

Khelgar guffawed. "Readin'? Why in the hell would you want to do that?" He gave a hearty laugh. Sand frowned, giving him a glare.

Casavir's expression was pleasant. He looked totally fine, to Lily's relief, and didn't seem to suspect anything at all. She didn't think for a second that she'd be able to pull that excuse off a second time, though – she never really spent that much time in the library, and the others probably knew that by now.

Thankfully this event was today, Lily thought. It meant that Sand and Aldanon hadn't been in the library as they normally were, so her story became that much more believable. Bishop looked like he'd had enough and was on his way out.

And then she saw him. Behind Bishop, there had been a figure. Tall. Rich, brown, shaggy hair. Blue eyes.

Bevil.

"Bevil!" Lily shouted nearly at the top of her lungs. Without thinking, she propelled herself forward several meters and threw herself into Bevil's arms. Bevil smiled and twirled her around once before setting her down. "Hey, Lily!" he laughed happily.

And Bishop, who had had his foot poised to leave, now had his attention once again completely captured. He suddenly wore simultaneous expressions of "Will-somebody-tell-me-what-the-hell-is-going-on-here?" and "Who-the-hell-is-this-guy?"

Casavir was shocked at the scene, his lips hanging open slightly, speechless. He was incredibly surprised and rather emotionally injured, and the display had scattered all his good sense to keep his expression stoic.

Khelgar buried his face in his hands in an "Oh, brother, not this again". And Neeshka positively squeed.

Elanee asked the question on everyone's minds.

"Who's this?"

"This is Bevil, a good friend of mine," Lily explained. "He's from West Harbor too."

At that moment, it all clicked in Bishop's head.

That's him, he thought with a start.

That's the elf's former flame.